add-on

Popular add-ons to Firefox are the latest criminal attack vector

Mozilla enjoys a large development community to build add-ons for its Firefox browser. Now it seems all that development might not be a good thing. A security researcher in Indiana has found that the process used to update some of these add-ons automatically appears to be flawed, allowing criminal hackers to intercept the browser's call to the developer to see if there's a new version available. Worse, the most vulnerable add-ons aren't from vendors you've never heard of; they include brand-name sites like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Extensions for Firefox contain hard-coded Internet addresses for … Read more

IE7Pro beefs up Internet Explorer

Mozilla Firefox gets a lot of praise for the countless third-party extensions that add features like FTP, download management, and tab customization to the open-source browser. The most popular browser on the market, Internet Explorer, also has its fair share of add-ons, but nowhere near the number or quality of its competitor.

One new download for Internet Explorer, however, adds a number of valuable features that are only replicated in numerous different Firefox extensions. Among its many enhancements, IE7Pro adds tab management, ad blocking, Flash blocking, crash recovery, and the ability to re-open closed tabs to the Microsoft browser. Even cooler, it allows user-based scripts much like Greasemonkey for Firefox. Again, the scripts aren't nearly as impressive as Greasemonkey, but the idea is a good one.

Firefox gets tight with Digg

Digg launched an API recently, a way for developers to write new ways to submit stories to Digg and to extract data from the service. One intriguing new app that uses the API is the Smart Digg Button for Firefox. There have been toolbar icons that make it easier to Digg stories before, but what this add-on does is a little different. It tells you, in the lower-right corner of your browser, how many Diggs the page you're visiting already has. If you click on the notification, you can add your own Digg, too.

It's a cool idea … Read more

Put Google on steroids

With dominating Web search and the increasingly popular Gmail service, Google's dominion grows larger each day. The company makes powerful search and e-mail apps, but it's never been known for front-end interfaces.

Luckily for you, free downloads for Google Web search and Gmail can help you customize Google services to look and work they way you want.

You likely already know about the major Google software--Google Toolbar (for Mozilla Firefox or IE), Google Desktop, Google Earth, and Google Talk--but the lesser-known utilities and extensions often have the most interesting features.

One of the best I've seen … Read more

Firefox add-ons site goes on a diet, gets face-lift [video]

This post has been updated from the original. Added: Video interview with Mike Shaver, Technology Strategist at Mozilla Corp.

On Monday, Mozilla launched an updated version of its add-ons page for its popular browser Firefox. The new page has redefined genres, language localization, and snazzy Ajax-enabled previews for screenshots. Mozilla also is adding a user community element that allows users to add their own reviews, complete with a rating system. Previously, you were only able to add comments. Mozilla also has cut hundreds of extensions to make room for the more popular ones, making the updated site more of a &… Read more

News on your Wii? Sure, why not

Wow, you really can do just about everything with your Wii. You can play tennis or baseball, check the weather, fight bad guys...and now, stay informed on what's going on in the world. On Saturday, the "Wii News Channel" will be launching, available on all Wii consoles that have Internet-browsing capabilities through the downloadable Opera browser. News will be supplied by the Associated Press, which has inked a two-year deal with Nintendo. So far, it's just news stories and photographs, but you never know what they might add next. This way, you can take a … Read more

A better way to search Wikipedia?

At times, I've found that Wikipedia's internal search engine is sometimes a little bit lackluster: on occasion, I legitimately can't find what I'm looking for. This will probably improve somewhat when Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales launches his Wikiasari search engine. Though it's apparently going to be a search engine for the whole Web, not just Wikipedia, I'm betting that the technology could have an effect on improving the online encyclopedia's internal search capabilities.

Or there could be a third-party search engine that gets there first, which could be the case with WikiSeek. Created … Read more

Top 10 list of Top 10 Firefox add-on lists

A lot of us want to live in Firefox 2. But we also want to bend it to our will, to customize it so it's just right. Our visions of the ideal Firefox are different, though. The Web surfer will want one thing, for example, and the programmer another. So check out this Official Webware Firefox Top 10 List. Not of extensions. Of other lists.

Download.com: Best extensions for Firefox 2 Webware.com's brothers at Download.com have a good general list, as covered in this post.

About.com: Top 10 Firefox extensions A collection of some … Read more

Best extensions for Firefox 2

One of the greatest facets of Mozilla Firefox (download it from CNET Download.com) is the ability to tweak the interface and browser features to your heart's content via application settings (such as about:config) or via add-ons such as extensions and themes.

Version 2 added some of the best features from some of the best extensions for 1.x, such as session saving, spell checking, and search-engine management, but it's not enough. Where's my weather forecast and tool for downloading videos from YouTube? Well, those features and much, much more are available via extensions, and we'… Read more